Trip to Mars could leave crew 'dangerously weak'

If a human ever sets foot on Mars, will it be a giant step or an exhausted shuffle?
Long-term space flight so weakens fitness that an astronaut heading to the Red Planet may lose up to half the power in key muscles in the course of the mission, scientists have found.
The loss -- equivalent to a crew member aged between 30 and 50 returning home with the muscles of an 80-year-old -- would add a major danger to a trip already laden with peril, they said.
Researchers led by Robert Fitts, a professor of biology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, took tiny samples of tissue from the calf muscles of nine US and Russian astronauts who spent around six months on the International Space Station (ISS).
The biopsies, taken 45 days before launch and on the day of return, showed dramatically how muscles atrophy in zero gravity.
The losses in fibre mass, force and power translated into a decline of more than 40 percent in the capacity for physical work, Fitts reported.

Link www.breitbart.com...
Link 2 www.marsdaily.com...
One more link spaceexplorationnews.com...

So what do you thinksay we had a way to get there how could we overcome this problem
Personally i don't think it will happen in my lifetime but were there is will there is always a way.

Thankyou

reply to post by mars1


Well im only 18, so this should eventually happen in my lifetime (along with contact with ET i hope)

I would proudly volunteer myself for this journey, it wouldnt bother me if i couldnt walk or even move my legs, just landing on the Red Planet and looking outside would the most amazing thing imaginable.

[edit on 19-8-2010 by Haydn_17]

reply to post by mars1


"how could we overcome this problem"

... by getting there faster.

"Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip"
news.scotsman.com...

I would still be willing to go.

Originally posted by Haydn_17
reply to post by mars1

 

Well im only 18, so this should eventually happen in my lifetime (along with contact with ET i hope)

I would proudly volunteer myself for this journey, it wouldnt bother me if i couldnt walk or even move my legs, just landing on the Red Planet and looking outside would the most amazing thing imaginable.

[edit on 19-8-2010 by Haydn_17]

Agreed! I would volunteer as well, it would be the experience of a life time.

reply to post by Larryman


I can feel the sarcasm but a obvious answer to the question
But then you have the problem of keeping the astronauts alive at the high speed
One day they will find a way.

Haydn_17 i would go there would be no thinking about it even if i was to die there the best way to go.

Edit to change wording

Thankyou

[edit on 083131p://2010-08-19T08:26:06-05:00198 by mars1]

I won't ask what age you are, but you might be right. When I was a kid I thought we'd be out there by now. We are too preoccupied with all the crap down here.

I suspect that to prevent muscles wasting away probably some sort of mild electric shock therapy and high protein foods. There are certain types of medication for people with muscle wasting diseases which could be altered to help protect the astronauts during the long during.

As mentioned by a few people I would be more than willing to be blasted off to Mars, even if there might be no hope of return.

Great way to go you have to admit!

Originally posted by mars1
reply to post by Larryman

 

I can feel the sarcasm

but a obvious answer to the question

But then you have the problem of keeping the astronauts alive at the high speed

Put the astronauts into freeze tubes for the high-speed voyage. Revive them when they arrive at the destination. Hard to believe we go from a too slow speed problem, to a too fast speed problem.

[edit on 8/19/2010 by Larryman]

reply to post by Larryman


Too true but in time these problems will be overcome we hope

Don't think i would like to go as an ice cube if i was on a trip that maybe there is no returning i would want to see as much as possible before i die

Thankyou

reply to post by mars1


I guess they would aquire the slinder grey body then?
2nd

What ever happened to the centripetal force ships/space stations? Simulate gravity by building a spinning "ring" habitat where the astronauts would live during the journey. Kind of like a wheel and spoke ship with propulsion and landing craft in the middle. That way they could exercise and retain their muscle mass and live somewhat normal during their trip.

reply to post by DiabolusFireDragon


You mite like this.

Steve Spangler employee, Carl London, teaches the science of centripetal force at the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference in Dallas, Texas.

reply to post by mars1

Exactly! Check out this video at about the 4 minute mark:

When I was in gradeschool during the early 60's scientists or their promoters told us we would have: giant space stations, jet packs in every garage, cars that drove themselves, bases and mining operations on the moon and other stuff I can't remember. This was all supposed to happen by the 1980's.

reply to post by Larryman


We don't even need to get that exotic about it. If you have access to that kind of propulsion you could maintain a nice comfortable 1 g to half way there and then decelerate at 1g all the way into orbit. By orientating the crew module with respect to motion you'd have a relatively quick and comfortable journey with no muscle wastage problems.

The journey wouldn't be three hours but it would be relatively quick.

You don't need a HIEM drive. VASMIR rockets powered by a fission reactors would do the job. As they said on an old show "we have the technology".

reply to post by justwokeup


Yea, that VASMIR would also work... if you have a month to kill, and you think Mars is the end of the universe. I think of Mars as a big red dead rock to look at in passing... on the way to another star system, where Kepler will have found another Earth.

If your proved to be right and we make wonder science breakthroughs enabling interstellar flight nobody will be happier than me. I'd join the line immediately....

I just tend to think we should be actively exploring now with what we can do now, rather than waiting for the silver bullet.

Funding a study is a wonderful bureaucratic mechanism to boot stuff into the long grass. Every miracle is only a research grant away...

Originally posted by Larryman
reply to post by mars1

 

"how could we overcome this problem"

... by getting there faster.

"Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip"
news.scotsman.com...

You mean something like this?



(could only find a 3d game animation initial parts as concept, and can leave out the rest of the game intro)

Now, if only the Corporations would stop churning out armaments and cheap $20 shoes that need to be replaced every month. and then create something like this with the best minds our generation can ever produce.

We would then manifest our destiny to the stars, to riches both spiritually and economically.

reply to post by SeekerofTruth101


No... I don't mean the use of a 'jump gate'. The hyperspace access is generated by the field emitted from the Burkhard Heim-drive equipped ship it's self.

Only time will tell

Also this article was kind of a no brainer really...

[edit on 20-8-2010 by ZikhaN]